The beautiful garden setting of the Cari-Mari gallery, with its spacious lawn and tall Jacarandas, played the perfect host for the fun concept of the HARDT exhibition. Potentially the first in a series of exhibitions, the idea was launched with great success.

Walking in, a playground theme from the good ol' days greeted you, serenaded by the Briels music in the background: girls playing hop scotch, boys climbing trees and throwing paper airplanes. All the kids were dressed in school clothes with a typical dutch influence – the girls with puffy white pants and Voortrekker bonnets, the boys with suspenders and quaint little hats. Hanna Grobler, the mastermind behind the evening, decided to fuse her extensive art repertoire by mixing little dramas in-between the art pieces. The exhibition displays her vast talent, with paintings and sculptures for sale.

The idea for the exhibition was birthed from Hanna's art classes at the Louis Botha Children’s Home. Her three students got to exhibit alongside herself, Corli and Elza. The girls were introduced in a unique way with a little symbolic musical interlude, while they posed in see-through display boxes. They each decided on a pseudonym to describe themselves. Mystique, Lara and Maia stole the limelight with their unique canvasses. Hanna devoted her time to refine the artistic potential each of these young ladies already had. With their talent, previous art classes and her patient guidance they each created a special canvas with a mixed-medium collage of how they see themselves. This emotional add-on aspect of the project enabled them to express their feelings, delving into the deeper meaning of life, as well as allowing the world to see a little bit of who they are – and who they want to become.

Hanna used this opportunity to make people more aware of the kind of world these kids live in. Together with the artwork and dramas, little poetic excerpts paint the picture of life as an orphan. She portrayed each helper through a little ceramic facial caricature and described who they are and what value they add to the kids lives. Through her artworks you will meet Maria, oom Fanie, ouma Tillie, Carol, Vincent, oom Liggies, Blommetjie and the others that have devoted their lives to helping the kids. A descriptive snippet of each person's role and a bit of their background takes the children’s home from being an abstract idea, to something more tangible.

By this point your heart strings would have been pulled on thoroughly, and if you wish to become more involved info is available about Hanna's charity and all the opportunities where you can invest in helping others. You can either volunteer your time or create a monthly debit order to offer financial support.

The HARDT concept originated out of the collaboration between various artists to launch an awareness campaign for specific beneficiaries and their needs. We use our hearts to experience the hardships of others. From there the inspiration and name for the exhibition. Heart in Afrikaans is hart and hard in English and Afrikaans has the same spelling. Combining these two words: a representation of the tough lives of others affecting us – HARDT. The exhibition is in aid of the Louis Botha Children’s Home. And a percentage of all artworks and commissions will be donated to the home. The Louis Botha Children’s Home was started in 1918 and has helped many children to reach their full potential. The exhibition will be running from 01 December to 05 December.

More info about the Hanna Charity:
Hanna Charity and Empowerment Foundation’s mission is to take hands with the poor and marginalized people of South Africa. They provide personal attention and direct benefits to children, youth, aging and their families so they may live with dignity, achieve their desired potential and participate fully in society. People of good will are invited to live in daily solidarity with the world’s poor through one-to-one sponsorship. A sense of community is built by fostering relationships of mutual respect, understanding and support that are culturally diverse, empowering and without religious or other prejudice.

Hanna Charity and Empowerment Foundation is grounded in the Gospel call to serve the poor. Recognizing the God-given dignity of each person is essential to sincere, lasting, loving relationships. A relationship of mutual respect between sponsor and sponsored person is central to the charity's mission. It began in 2008 through the visionary leadership of Hanelia Grobler, alias Hanna Grobler, who always wanted to make people happy and have them believe in themselves. As a child Hanna had friends for whom her mom also needed to pack sandwiches. Hanna went to birthday parties that other kids didn’t want to go to. During her school going years Hanna worked on weekends at a place of safety and regularly visited patients in a geriatric institution. Whilst studying at the University of Stellenbosch she gave complementary art classes to the poor community of Cloetesville and had a children’s ministry.

Visit www.hannacharity.org for more information.

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Photos by Laurentia E Photography. Read her blog here. Visit her facebook page.